It is hard to overstate how revolutionary that rope and Andon board were for the auto industry: Allowing a mere blue-collar worker to stop the line would have been heresy in Detroit a few decades ago, as managers were more concerned about keeping up volume than quality.
Months before an animal fur appears on the head of a Russian oil baron or as a chin-caressing collar on a Manhattan socialite, it makes a global journey that may include a stop in a nondescript warehouse in Toronto.